Archive for September, 2008

A continuously updated list of citations or references around the knowledge driven economy:

“Knowledge-Based Work: The second factor that makes jobs dysfunctional today is more and more work is knowledge-based rather than industrial. (Even the new industrial work is knowledge-based: the latest model of car has more built-in computing power than some of the first generation of satellites).” Helgesen, Sally: Leading from the grass roots,Page 20 f., in The Drucker Foundation. The Leader of the Future, Jossey-Bass Publisher, 1996

“The equation of leadership with positional power also reveals assumptions about the nature and shape of our organizations that are fast becoming obsolete. Certainly, such as linkage fails to reflect the decentralized and organic structure of what Peter Drucker has called the knowledge organization, which is the dominant form in our emergin postcapitalist era. Drucker notes that “the knowledges” that today’s organizations exist to make productive are by definition widely distributed. They are to be found not only among those at the top, the “lead horses”, but also among those who constitute what in the industrial era we called the rank and file. Indeed, people in the ranks no longer interchangeable ciphers performing simple repetitive tasks; in the knowledge organization, they are all knowledge workers. Each posses specific sets of skills and varieties of expertise, all of which are subject to continual upgrading.” Bridges, William: Leading the De-jobbed organization,Page 14 f., in The Drucker Foundation. The Leader of the Future, Jossey-Bass Publisher, 1996

“In a world where knowledge-worker companies are multiplzing, this is an especially crucial passage. Today’s twenty-two-year-old individual contributor in a dot.com company is tomorrow’s CEO. She no longer has to wait thirty years to ascend to the top spot; she may be ready in five or ten years (or it may be even less). Plus, first-time managers in knowledge-worker companies have a tremendous impact on productivity (in terms of cost efficiency and revenue growth). If they’re acting like individual contributors, their impact will be reduced. For these resons alone, organizations must do more than just give lip servcie to the importance of this passage.” Charan, Ram; Drotter, Stephen; Noel, James: The Leadership Pipeline – How to build the Leadership Powered Company; Jossy-Bass, 2001, Page 34

Knowledge Economy

Wired cofounder Kevin Kelly recently reported that humans have “published” at least 32 million books; 750 million articles and essays; 25 million songs; 500 million images; 500 000 movies; 3 million videos, TV shows, and short films; and 100 billion public Web pages – and most of this knowledge explosion took place in the lst half century. Now add the constant stream of new knowledge created every day; so much, in fact, that the stock of human knowledge now doubles every five years. Tapscott, Don; Williams, Anthony D.: Wikinomics, Atlantic Books, 2007, Page 151 f.

“The problem from an organizational and knowledge-management point of view, however, lies in the inability of firms to capture and codify those moments of inspired brilliance – the moments when someone does something spontaneous that could be the key to unlocking a whole new approach to getting things done. Mayfield suggests the self-organizing group formation process should occur in social software. “Those are the moments where the greatest amount of learning occurs”, he says. Tapscott, Don; Williams, Anthony D.: Wikinomics, Atlantic Books, 2007, Page 256.

What is the impact on future Merger & Aquisitions ?
“Feigen points out that holding on to talent after a merger is an adverse selection process. “The most desirable people with the strongest resumes start marketing themselves first, and those are the people you want. Then you’ve got people down the line who may be high performers, but they’re younger. They’re saying, ‘Oh my God, my mentor, my boss just left,’ and they start looking. Not only do you lose the good leaders, but you also lower the morale of the up-and-comers if you aren’t prepared to take quick action to stem possible losses. A knowledge economy where people are truly your assests can implode very quickly.””Carey, Dennis C.; Ogden, Dayton: The Human Side of M&A, Oxford University Press, 2004, Page 65

“Court employees. Especially in knowledge-based industries, losing talented employees is the same as losing business assets. Court them as ardently as you court customers.” Carey, Dennis C.; Ogden, Dayton: The Human Side of M&A, Oxford University Press, 2004, Page 68

“Work No Longer Has Clear Boundaries
A major factor in the mounting stress level is that the acutal nature of our jobs has changed much more dramatically and rapidly than have our training for and our ability to deal with work. In just the last half of the twentieth century, what constituted “work” in the industrialized world was transformed from assembly-line, make-it and move-it kinds of activity to what Peter Drucker has so aptly termed “knowledge work”.
Allen, David: Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Pengiun Books, 2001, Page 5.

“The Real Work of Knowledge Work
Welcome to the real-life experience of “knowledge work”, and a profound operational principle: You have to think about your stuff more than you realize but not as much as you’re afraid you might. As Peter Drucker has written, “In knowledge work… the task is not given; it has to be determined. ‘What are the expected results from this work?’ is … the key question in making knowledge workers productive. And it is a question that demands risky decisions. There is usually no right answer; there are choices instead. And results have to be clearly specified, if productivity is to be achieved.”
Allen, David: Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Pengiun Books, 2001, Page 15.

“Too often “managing by wandering around” is an excuse for getting away from amorphous piles of stuff. This is where the need for knowledge-work athletics really shows up. Most people did not grow up in a world where defining the edges of work and managing huge numbers of open loops were required. But when you’ve developed the skilll and habits of processing input rapidly into a rigorously defined system, it becomes much easier to trust your judgement calls about the dance of what to do, what to stop doing, and what to do instead.”
Allen, David: Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Pengiun Books, 2001, Page 198 f..

This doesn’t mean that everyone has to do everything. I hope I have described a way to relate to our releatively new knowledge-based world that gives room for everyone to have a lot more to do than he or she can do. The critical issue will be to facilitate a constant renegotiation process with all involved, so they feel OK about what they’re not doing. That’s real knowledge work, at a more sophisticated level. But there’s little hope of getting there without having bulletproof collection systems in play. Remember, you can’t renegotiate an agreement with yourself that you can’t remember you made. And you certainly can’t renegotiate agreements with others that you’ve lost track of.”
Allen, David: Getting Things Done, The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, Pengiun Books, 2001, Page 235.

“The rapid growth in scientific and technological knowledge is one driver that has contributed to the growing importance of human capital. Second, the information technology boom of the 1990s and the accompanying talent shortage got firms thinking about human capiatla as never before. Finally, there is a growing recognition that more and more of the market value of firms rests in their human capital.” Lawler III, Edward E., Worley Christopher G.: Built to Change, How to achieve sustained organizational effectiveness, Joessy-Bass, 2006, Page 5.

“Knowledge Is Central
The centrality of knowledge to organizational effectiveness has changed the very essence of organizations, what they do, and how they do it. Because of the growth in knowledge and the ways it is used by organizations, the nature of individua work has changed. Increasingly, work in developed countries is knowledge work in which people manage information, deal in abstract concepts, and are valued for their ability to think, analyze, and problem-solve. Fewer and fewer people are doing the mind-numbing, reptitive manual tasks that used to dominate the work scene. ” Lawler III, Edward E., Worley Christopher G.: Built to Change, How to achieve sustained organizational effectiveness, Joessy-Bass, 2006, Page 5 f.

Finally, knowledge workers, the fastest-growing talent pool in most organizations, have their own demands and peculiarities. By one estimate, 48 million of the 137 million workers in the United States alone can be classified in this group; a single company can employ upward of 100 000 (Lowell L. Bryan, “Making a market in knowledge,” The McKinsey Quarterly, 2004 Number 3, pp. 100;11). Knowledge workers are different because they creat more profit than other employees do – up to three times more, according to our research – and because their work requires minimal oversight. Yet the performance of knowledge-intensive companies within the same industry varies significantly, which suggests that some of them struggle to extract value from this newly enlarged type of workforce.” Reference: Making talent a stragic Priority, The McKinsey Quarterly Online, January 2008, Page 4

“Inflexible work arrangements such as 8‑to‑5 shifts are about as modern as Charlie Chaplin’s assembly line in the classic movie “Modern Times.” The model of industrial-age factories in that movie was later applied to offices, creating workhouses with endless rows of desks occupied by drones wearing visors and counting things. While it’s still necessary to have workers in assembly plants and clerks on department store floors, today’s knowledge and innovation (KI) workers don’t need to be confined to cubicles eight hours a day to create value.
Companies cling to the old workhouse practices because managing people is easier when one can see and touch them every day. Unfortunately, this illusory management practice encourages the wrong performance measurements such as attendance and visibility rather than productivity and creativity. Today’s KI workers tend to rebel against command-and-control structures and thrive on autonomy, flexibility and self-determination. In this environment, they can become more creative, responsible and productive team members, offering companies that embrace alternative work arrangements an advantage over those that insist on antiquated schedules and practices.” Lawrence, Ron: Managing Performance in the Knowledge and Innovation Worker Age, Talent Management Magazine, September 2008

“Peter Drucker was a pioneer in understanding the impact of knowledge workers in the new economy. He simply defined knowledge workers as ‘people who know more about what they are doing than their boss does’. In a world where knowledge workers are the key to value in most corporations, personal brand management becomes critically important. ” Reference: Book Review by Marshall Goldsmith on “Personal Branding Academy’

“They (managers) assume that successful change comes primarily from being able to come up with a new, better organization structure. This is a particularly dangerous assumption in knowledge work organizations. In them, much of the intellectual capital of the organization rests in individuals, the systems that they work within, and the relationships that exist. Reference: Lawler III, Edward: Talent – Making People Your Competitive Advantage, Page 49.

“Profit sharing and stock ownership plans are particularly good fits in HC(Human Capital)-centric organizations that do knowledge work and are realtively samll in size.” Reference: Lawler III, Edward: Talent – Making People Your Competitive Advantage, Page 57.

An interesting way to manage career of knowldge workers was developed by Deloitte & Touche:
“Mass carerr customization appears to be a praticularly good fit for Deloitte & Touche, because it is, when all is said and done, a knowledge-work, project-based organization. This type of organization has a constant need to retain and develop knowledge workers and to match them with the work that needs to be done. Knowing that individuals desire and want from their work, and what they are capable of doing, is an enormous aid when it comes to matching them with the project work that needs to be done at any point in time.” Reference: Lawler III, Edward: Talent – Making People Your Competitive Advantage, Page 80.

“Today, true collaborative sharing tends to occur primarily in nonbusiness settings and within knowledge-based communities. For example, knowledge is freely shared in scientific and academic communities because it is supported by the commonly held value of scholarly recognition – the recipent of knowledge is obligated to recognize all of the contributions to that knowledge. A similar commitment is a crucial ingredient in “open innovation” communities such as that supporting the Linux operating system. Within frims, members with common interests and problems often voluntarily share their know-how outside formal communications channels.” Reference: Raymond E. Miles, Grant Miles, Charles Snow: Creating The Capability For Collaborative Entrepreneurship: HR’s Role In The Development Of A New Organizational Form in The Future of Human Resource Management; John Wiley & Sons, Page 245

“As Frederick Taylor, the leader of the scientific management movement declared, “Simple jobs for simple people”. In this environment, employees did not have to understand or implement the strategy. They just had to perform well the narrow taks that engineers and management had assigned and trained them to do.
Today, this mode of work is virtually obsolete. For organizations to achieve their objectives – whether they are manufacturing or service, private or public, for-profit or not-for-profit – all organizational participants need to be aligned to the strategy. Much of the work done today is knowledge-based, not physical work. Automation and productivity have reduced the percentage of people in the organization who do traditional work functions. One reports estimates that 50 percent of the work done in industrialized coutnires today is knowledge work.” Kaplan, Rober; Norton, David : The Strategy-Focused Organization: How Balanced Scorecard Companies Thrive in the New Business Environment Page 211 f.

“The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge” Daniel J. Boorstin

Actually I always believed learning on my own is the most effective way.

It was only at university where I had an opinion changing experience.

We were about 15 students attending a class together. Our professor was one of the advisors to the German Government. One thing he enjoyed most was thinking out loud in front of our class. The class was officially scheduled for 90 minutes. This did not stop this famous professor to elaborate all aspects of the topic in front of us in a monologue while walking up and down. Needless to say his lecture could last up to 3 or 4 hours without break. We estimated that he walked about a minimum of 10 kilometers during this time. Most of us could not figure out what his key message were and what to learn for the final exam. Not to mention that it was impossible to keep the attention level during this time in the classroom. I still wonder today how I was able not to fall asleep and start snoring. Have you made similar experiences ? (Leave a comment. Thank you.)

Another obvious fact was that there were a large percentage of students who failed the final exam.

The only way I thought to survive the exam was to form a study group. This seemed to be such a good idea that all of the 15 participants joined. Still some of them at the beginning were questioning if studying together will be effective. By the end of the semester we were all fully engaged in this group and prepared the upcoming exam together. The result was better than imagined – None of us failed.

When Mark Zuckerberg was busy founding Facebook a $15 Billion company while at Harvard the final exam in his art course were only one week away and he wasn’t prepared at all for it. “Zuckerberg did what comes naturally to a native of the web. He went to the internet and downloaded images of all the pieces of art he knew would be covered in the exam. He put them on a web page and added blank boxes under each. Then he emailed the address of this page to his classmates, telling them he’d just put up a study guide… The class dutifully came along and filled in the blanks with the essential knowledge about each piece of art, editing each other as they went, collaborating to get it just right… Zuckerberg aced the exam. But here’s the real kicker: The professor said the class as a whole got better grades than usual.” Reference: Jarvis, Jeff: What Would Google Do?, Harper Luxe, page 84.

This was my personal experience. Is there any scientific research confirming my personal success story?

There is a landmark study by Richard J. Light, of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. “Light discovered that one of the strongest determinants of students’ success in higher education – more important than the details of their instructors’ teaching styles – was their ability to form or participate in small study groups. Students, who studied in groups, even only once a week, were more engaged in their studies, were better prepared for class, and learned significantly more than students who worked on their own.” Seely Brown, John;Adler, Richard P.: “Minds on Fire – Open Education,

But how does it actually work? What does Neuroscience say?

“Your Brain Needs Others”

Ellen Weber, Ph.D., director of the MITA International Brain Based Center in Pittsford, N.Y made the following observation.

“Weber’s recommendation to talk with someone about what you just learned derives from something that neuroscientists are learning more about—the brain as a social animal that needs interaction with others.”

“Because of brain-imaging technologies, we know that we use only 3 percent to 5 percent of our brains,” Weber says. “If you send me to your staff meeting and sit me there and talk to me, I use 3 percent of my brain, and that is the reason I hate being there and why I’m disengaged.””

I am now the President of the corporate Toastmasters club in the company I am working for. Toastmasters mission is to provide a mutually supportive and positive learning environment in which every member has the opportunity to develop communication and leadership skills, which in turn foster self-confidence and personal growth. During my short time I have seen people developing unbelievable fast. While they used a script in their first speech and showed signs of nervousness most of them did not use a script in their second speech and were comfortably standing in front of the audience. This is just another experience that proves how effective collaborative learning is.

I am now looking for programs to develop collaboratively team skills (effective team meetings, etc.). If you do know any such program or any other collaborative learning programs please leave me a comment. Thank you.

CA-Los Angeles, Job Description: Growing and Dynamic Company looking to hire an Human Resources Administrative Assistant Essential Functions Reception. Welcome guests, record their visits, and notify appropriate parties of their arrivals. Ensure all calls are answered promptly and routed properly, representing our company with a high level of integrity and p […]

NY-New York, Auto req ID 707BR Title Human Resources Executive Assistant Job Type Staff Full Time Location New York Job Description Position Summary Position is responsible for providing administrative support for SVP, Human Resources, well as, specified members of the HR Leadership Team (HRLT). The position is also responsible for the coordination, planning […]

TX-Fort Worth, Position Description We focus on people. Our residents. Their lives. Their health. Their families. We are one of the largest providers of short-term and long-term health care services in the United States. Through our affiliated entities, we provide services through skilled nursing facilities in 23 states. We are committed to providing compass […]

CA-Rancho Cucamonga, DIRECT HIRE HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGER CORESTAFF Services is seeking a direct hire Human Resources Manager for a large financial services company located in Rancho Cucamonga. The Manager will focus on the consistent delivery of the employee experience and policy interpretation. Responsible for spearheading self-service initiatives and conti […]

CA-Santa Ana, Human Resources Generalist Ready to start or grow your Human Resources career? Randstad Professionals specializes in Human Resources staffing and helps over 1000 professionals start and grow their career each year. We have an immediate opportunity for a Human Resources Generalist that will be responsible for supporting with Worker's Compen […]

CA-Burbank, We are a commercial janitorial services company seeking a full time Human Resources Generalist. We are offering full time hours from 8AM - 5PM Monday through Friday and occasional overtime. The starting annual wage is $40,000. We would like our new colleague to be someone looking for long term employment and someone who wants to grow together wit […]

GA-Duluth, Japanese-English Bilingual Human Resources Specialist We have a new opportunity for Japanese-English bilingual professionals with one of our manufacturing clients in the greater Atlanta, GA area! We are looking for a Human Resources Specialist to help support several of their day-to-day HR activities to include, but not limited to addressing emplo […]

The weakest link in America's cyber defenses is the lack of trained personnel. Companies, the government and academia must work together to bridge this cybersecurity skills gap, says this opinion piece.

Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] and Education for Sustainable Development [ESD] are closely related and complementary initiatives. CSR seeks to develop and expand the effectiveness of business contribution to our society. ESD seeks to provide all students [at all levels of learning] with the skills to incorporate socially responsible practice into thei […]

Two years ago, a first-year student at Kozminski University (KU) in Warsaw, Poland approached his family’s business in the south of the country with the intent of cutting expenses by reducing wasted electricity – an idea that was initially met with scepticism because it involved tackling a low-end cost. Fortunately, however, the student persisted and … Conti […]

76% of CEOs and senior executives polled in a global survey conducted during the height of the 2008 financial crisis believe that it is important that senior executives have the necessary knowledge and skills to respond to trends like climate change, resource scarcity and doing business in emerging markets marked by poverty, corruption and human … Continue r […]

In the current economic situation, demonstrating the relevance of non-financial performance in the dialogue between companies and investors is a more timely challenge than ever, concludes a major report released by EABIS and CSR Europe in support of the EU Alliance for CSR. This view was also recently endorsed by European Commission Vice-President Guenter Ve […]

Patients at risk of heart attacks and strokes may be spotted earlier thanks to a diagnosis tool that uses near-infrared light to identify high-risk arterial plaques, according to research carried out at WMG, University of Warwick, the Baker Institute and Monash University.

Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg on 31 October 1517, what the Germans call the Thesenanschlag, is one of the most famous events of Western history - but did it actually happen? In 1517: Martin Luther and the Invention of the Reformation Professor Peter Marshall, of the University of Warwick’s Depart […]

The design of aeroplane wings and storing organs for transplant could both become safer and more effective, thanks to a synthetic antifreeze which prevents the growth of ice crystals, developed by researchers at the University of Warwick.

Scientists at Warwick Business School have trained a computer to recognise beautiful scenery using “deep learning”, an approach to artificial intelligence which is inspired by the architecture of the human brain.

Researchers at the Institute of Digital Healthcare in WMG, University of Warwick have been awarded an Innovate UK grant to assist Sweatco Ltd to further develop their app for users to earn more rewards from a broader range of exercise activities.

WMG, at the University of Warwick hosted a visit from the leader, and deputy leader, of Coventry City Council who were keen to see for themselves the significant investment in automotive research within the City.

Professor Tony Howard, of the University of Warwick’s Department of English and Comparative Studies, will lead a panel of performers and scholars on Tuesday 19th September at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, following a performance of 'Against Prejudice: Ira Aldridge, Theatre Manager', in considering the importance of Ira Aldridge’s achievements for hi […]

Parents of very premature or very low birth weight babies have the same life satisfaction as parents of full-term babies, when their children reach adulthood– according to new research by the University of Warwick.

The yellow legged or Asian hornet – a voracious predator of honey bees and other beneficial insects – could rapidly colonise the UK unless its spread is combatted, according to new research by the Universities of Warwick and Newcastle, working with the National Bee Unit.

TOKYO, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Japanese government bond prices were steady to a touch firmer on Friday with the market underpinned after gains by U.S. Treasuries and a regular debt-buying operation by the Bank of Japan.

MELBOURNE, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Chevron Corp has withdrawn an appeal to Australia's High Court over a disputed A$340 million ($268 million) tax bill, leaving in place a landmark court ruling on related-party loans that could affect other multinational companies.

HONG KONG, Aug 18 (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co named on Friday Lan Chen as the vice chairperson of the U.S. bank's global investment banking business in China as part of its efforts to expand in that market, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

To access the newsletter, click on the link: http://share.thomsonreuters.com/assets/newsletters/Indiamorning/MNC_IN_08182017.pdf If you would like to receive this newsletter via email, please register at: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/india-morning/ FACTORS TO WATCH 9:30 am: NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant at National Summit on 100 Smart Cities India 2017 in […]

MEXICO CITY, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Emilio Lozoya, the former head of Mexican oil firm Pemex, on Thursday denied he was involved in shifting cash to President Enrique Pena Nieto's campaign, saying bank accounts where millions of dollars were allegedly deposited were not his.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stock investors joined a global retreat from riskier assets on Friday and the dollar wavered on growing doubts about U.S. President Donald Trump's ability to deliver his economic agenda.

(Reuters) - Wisconsin's Republican-controlled state Assembly voted 59-30 on Thursday to approve a bill that paves the way for a $3 billion incentives package for a proposed liquid-crystal display plant by Taiwan's Foxconn.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two lawyers appointed to senior jobs at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have ties to major companies including financial firms Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co that could complicate efforts to regulate them, according to government documents viewed by Reuters.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Auto industry groups from Canada, Mexico and the United States are pushing back against the Trump administration's demand for higher U.S. automotive content in a modernized North American Free Trade Agreement.

(Reuters) - Three U.S. pension funds sued six of the world's largest banks on Thursday, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JP Morgan Chase & Co , accusing them of conspiring to stifle competition in the more than $1 trillion stock lending market.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lawyers for car owners suing General Motors Co over faulty ignition switches and other defects on Thursday accused the carmaker of meddling in settlement talks and having issued threats that led to the canceling of an agreement.

(Reuters) - A new lawsuit accuses Nestle SA of blatantly violating the rights of Atari by using without permission the classic 1970s video game "Breakout" in a new marketing campaign for its Kit Kat chocolate-covered wafers.